Marshall the Miracle Dog – heart, mud and a scruffy little hero

This kinda movie wants to hug you. Like, drag-you-through-the-muck-and-then-hug-you-anyway kind of vibe. “Marshall the Miracle Dog” is based on a true story, and you feel it. Not in a mega-Hollywood-glitz way but more like, “this actually happened and someone cried into their cornflakes about it”-way.

Directed by Jay Kanzler, a name that rings no huge bells for me honestly, but he does manage to keep the emotional thread from turning into pure cheese. Which, let’s be honest, could’ve happened real easy here.

Young Lucas, played by Nathan Gamble (yeah the kid from “Dolphin Tale” – still got those big worried eyes), finds this poor, almost-dead dog who’s been through serious abuse. And somewhere in the muddy barn, covered in gunk, is this little spark of something real. You can smell the crap and feel the flies buzzing. It ain’t pretty, but it’s sincere.

Then James Cromwell shows up – love that guy. I always kind of expect him to start talking to pigs, Cousin Petter style, but he’s good here. Solid. Could read a phonebook and make it noble.

I watched this with my niece, Sara, last October. She bawled all over my IKEA fleece blanket. Brought back memories from when I found a stray mutt outside our summer stuga in Småland. Named him Bosse. Lost him two weeks later. Still hurts.

The film waffles a bit tonally – is it a kids’ film or a PSA? It doesn’t always know. And some parts feel rushed, like they ran out of filming days and just went, “oh well, slap some piano music on it.”

But if you’ve ever loved a dog or been the outsider kid… yeah you’ll probably feel something. Might not be a cinematic masterpiece, but sometimes muddy struggles tell the purest stories.

watch the full movie on CinemaOneMovies on YouTube

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